Mike McCarthy would bring a quarterback-grooming pedigree to Giants
Packers head coach Mike McCarthy against the Pittsburgh Steelers at Heinz Field on Nov. 26, 2017. Credit: Getty Images/Joe Sargent
If the Giants believe the primary responsibility of their next head coach is to develop Daniel Jones, the man they met with Friday might be the one they hire for the job.
They interviewed Mike McCarthy, the former Super Bowl-winning head coach of the Packers, who has the most complete overall resume among the known candidates for the Giants’ opening. And when it comes to quarterbacks, he is the only one who can boast a pair of MVPs under his tutelage and the development of one into a future Hall of Famer.
Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels can point to Tom Brady, but Brady was a Super Bowl champion long before McDaniels began working with him.
McCarthy, during his tenure with the Packers as a quarterbacks coach for one year and a head coach for 13, helped Brett Favre in his final seasons in Green Bay and then groomed Aaron Rodgers for his success in the NFL. The Giants are familiar with many of his philosophies and coaching techniques; his former assistant, Ben McAdoo, brought them with him to the team as a coordinator and head coach and helped retool Eli Manning into a more efficient passer.
If McCarthy, 56, came to the Giants, his big selling point would be the promise to usher Jones from his impressive rookie year into a more polished and productive professional.
“I think any young quarterback would like him,” Favre said of McCarthy on Friday on SiriusXM’s NFL Radio. “Obviously, he’s had Aaron Rodgers, and that certainly helps. I do think he brings a level of toughness, but also a confidence that as a player, as a quarterback for him, you feel confident that he’s going to call plays that cater more to your ability rather than maybe a previous guy he had. So I think he’s a simple but yet confidence-building and technique-driven coach.”
Although Jones certainly is the centerpiece of any offensive plans the Giants have, the front office has been adamant that they are not looking only for a quarterback whisperer.
The Giants have said several times (and their list of candidates illustrates) that they are open to head-coaching candidates who come from a variety of roles. The belief is that if they hire someone without intimate quarterback knowledge as the head coach — say someone from the defensive side of the ball or with a more general leadership background — they can supplement that hire with the addition of a quarterback guru who will serve as Jones’ personal Yoda. They already might have such a person on the staff if they consider offensive coordinator Mike Shula or offensive assistant Ryan Roeder for that task. Both of them developed a close bond with Jones during the 2019 season.
McCarthy isn’t just a quarterback guy. From 2006 to 2017, Green Bay averaged 26.1 points a game, the league’s third-highest total during that time. The Packers finished in the top 10 in the NFL in total points every season from 2007 to 2014 and in nine of the 12 seasons McCarthy completed. Over the same 12-year period, they finished in the top 10 in total yards nine times. Green Bay’s 242 giveaways in that time were the NFL’s second fewest. And besides Favre and Rodgers, McCarthy and his offense produced five Pro Bowl wide receivers in Donald Driver, Greg Jennings, Randall Cobb, Jordy Nelson and Davante Adams.
McCarthy is one of only four coaches to lead a single franchise to eight or more consecutive postseason appearances, joining Pro Football Hall of Famers Tom Landry and Chuck Noll as well as New England’s Bill Belichick.
McCarthy spent the last year away from football, hunkered down at his home in Wisconsin studying the NFL with a number of other coaches. According to a recent feature on NFL Network, they embraced the role of analytics and refined their philosophies regarding personnel and in-game decision-making. That would seem to be a good fit with the Giants, who are “rebooting” their front-office systems to be more in line with current NFL thinking, per general manager Dave Gettleman’s news conference earlier this week.
McCarthy, who has interviewed with the Panthers and Browns, is said to be intrigued by the possibility of working with Jones, whose athleticism and skill set are similar to that of Rodgers (and whose personality is very different, which also could be a plus for McCarthy, who often clashed with Rogers).
The Browns were thought to be an enticing option for McCarthy as he could be reunited with former Packers assistant general manager Eliot Wolf for that team’s front-office opening. But as one league source said regarding the comfortability of that potential connection: “Eliot doesn’t play quarterback on Sundays.”
Daniel Jones does. McCarthy could be the coach to get him to do it better.
Notes & quotes: The Giants are expected to meet with Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy and Ravens defensive coordinator Don Martindale on Saturday while their playoff teams have byes . . . CBS Sports reported on Friday that Baylor coach Matt Rhule either will be the next coach of the Giants or return to Baylor. The Giants have yet to set a date to speak with Rhule, who is vacationing with his family after Baylor’s season ended with a loss in the Sugar Bowl on Wednesday, but a meeting could occur next week.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
